


Not-quite-a-date

by etux



Series: ShrunkyClunks [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Cap Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes | Shrunkyclunks, First Dates, Love at First Sight, M/M, POV Sam Wilson, Sam is amused, and also very happy for both of his idiots, or at least very close
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 09:04:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6747661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etux/pseuds/etux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Man, what are you even worrying about?” Sam asks when Steve still won’t stop staring at his coffee like it has personally offended him. “I thought you said you’ve done this before? That Nat tried setting you up with a bunch of people already?”</i>
</p>
<p><i>“Not </i>people<i>,” Steve mutters so quietly, that Sam almost doesn’t catch the next part in the noise of the busy cafe they’re sitting in. “Women. She tried setting me up with a bunch of </i>women.<i>”</i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In which Sam is the only one who knows Captain America is bi, and therefore sets him up on a not-quite-a-date with his not-quite-a-brother James. There's coffee, less than smooth lines, mentions of glitter, and - if Sam believed in such thing - almost love at first sight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not-quite-a-date

“Steve, for the love of God, _stop_.”

Steve raises his gaze from the coffee mug in front of him. “Stop what?” he asks Sam, who’s currently biting his lip in order to not to laugh at the national hero nervously fidgeting in front of him.

“Worrying,” Sam specifies and, managing to take control of his facial expressions at last, smiles reassuringly. “I’d say you’ll get wrinkles, but I doubt that’s possible.”

“Yeah, probably not,” Steve tries to grin. _Tries_ being the keyword. Sam sighs.

“Man, what are you even worrying about?” Sam asks when Steve still won’t stop staring at his coffee like it has personally offended him. “I thought you said you’ve done this before? That Nat tried setting you up with a bunch of people already?”

“Not _people_ ,” Steve mutters so quietly, that Sam almost doesn’t catch the next part in the noise of the busy cafe they’re sitting in. “Women. She tried setting me up with a bunch of _women._ ”

Sam has to blink a couple of times before he gets it. And then- Then he bursts into laughter.

“What?” he asks after he catches Steve’s embarrassed expression and stops laughing. “Seriously? Natasha ‘I’m a spy and therefore can find out your darkest secrets’ Romanoff only set you up with women? Doesn’t she know you’re bi?”

“Nobody knows I’m bi.”

“ _I_ know,” Sam protests, but stops when he realizes that he only knows because Steve tried to - rather awkwardly - _hit on him_ when they met, not because he has come out to him. “Woah. _Really?_ No one knows?”

Steve shakes his head. “I think Nat suspects, but hasn’t tried setting me up with men because she’s waiting for me to confirm her suspicions.”

“Woah,” Sam repeats and takes a sip of his own coffee just so he can have a second or two to think. “I’m honoured, dude. To be the only one to know Cap’s bi and all.”

“Well, yeah, not for long,” Steve says and this time he manages a grin just fine. “He should be here any minute now,” he says, glancing at the clock on the nearby wall. Half past two. “Who is _he_ anyway? You’ve been awfully secretive of this whole thing. I don’t think I even know his name yet.”

“Barnes,” Sam says. “His name’s James Barnes. And I didn’t want to say anything before I knew for sure he’d be down with this. Didn’t wanna jinx anything.”

“Before you knew for sure--,” Steve repeats, eyebrows furrowed. “He didn’t like the idea first? Did you have to convince him? Sam Wilson, did you _force_ someone on a date with me?”

There’s a smile on Steve’s face, so Sam knows to snort at his mockingly scandalized tone.

“I’m gonna be here with you the whole time, so not an official date, remember?” Sam laughs. “A pre-date. Free sample. Trial period so you can choose whether or not you’d _like_ to go on an official date.”

“Was that his idea or yours?” 

“Mine,” Sam admits. “It’s what it took for him to agree to this.”

“So he really didn’t want to go on a date?” Steve’s smile drops. “Sam-”

“He did!” Sam raises a hand to cut Steve off. “He _did_. Does. He’s just scared, that’s all. He hasn’t exactly… It’s been a while since he-”

Sam shakes his head and just decides to come clean with it.

“He was Riley’s foster brother,” Sam says and smiles sadly at the soft ‘ _Oh_ ’ that escapes from Steve. “Yeah. _Yeah._ They joined the army with him, but he wasn’t in the EXO-7 project with us. He was in Security Forces when Riley-” Sam stops and then starts again. “He left the army after that, too. Came to D.C. with me even though his family lives in Brooklyn. Wanted space of whatever, so we ended up living together for a while. It was nice, having someone who knew Riley so close, and it’s not like me and Barnes hadn’t been friends before, you know, we just. Became closer after. 

“He’s a good guy.” Sam finishes lamely, into the heavy silence that has fallen between him and Steve. “And he’s been bugging _me_ about moving on for ages now, so… Compromise? I told him I’d let him set me up if he agreed to meet with you.”

“Don’t let Natasha hear that you’re open to dates,” Steve warns with a playful grin and then sobers up. “You wouldn’t set him up with just anyone. So thank you, Sam. I’m honoured. He sounds like a good guy.”

“Yeah, he is,” Sam says, blinking slowly, and wonders how the hell is Steve always saying shit like this with a straight face and one hundred percent _meaning_ every word.

Then again, Steve is right. He wouldn’t set James up with just anyone. He’s too important, too much like family. Too much like the brother-in-law they both know he eventually would’ve been if Riley hadn’t fallen off the sky in front of Sam’s eyes while he was incapable of doing _anything_ and--

“Sam?” Steve’s voice gets Sam to stop that particularly nasty trip down the memory lane, and for a second Sam thinks that everything he has carefully learned about keeping his emotions in check has finally come undone. But no. 

Steve is watching the doorway of the cafe and he’s pointing at a guy with messy stubble and overgrown hair, who looks more than just a little bit lost. “Is that him?”

“Yeah. Damn hobo,” Sam sighs before waving at James. “We’re here, idiot!”

James turns look at them when he hears his voice, and Sam is relieved to see an easy grin on his face. James had been nervous the night before, but he seems to have pulled himself together. It’s good. Really good.

“Hello. Nice to meet you,” Steve says, offering his hand to James as he comes to sit with them, and _speaking of good_ , damn, that’s a big smile Steve’s offering as well. “Steve Rogers.”

“Likewise,” James smiles back, taking the hand, and if Sam was a less realistic man, he would _swear_ he sees sparks flying. “James Barnes. But _please_ , call me Bucky. Everyone but this dude does,” James grins, nodding his head towards Sam. “He got used to calling me Barnes in the army, and afterwards he insisted on James.”

“Bucky isn’t a name for a grown man,” Sam teases, and neither of them mentions that the real reason Sam won’t call James by his nickname is that he can still remember Riley’s smile every time he told about his ‘little brother Bucky’. This is a game they’ve played before. Mentioning Riley, not mentioning Riley - they’ve made an art of it, and they know each other’s weak spots and how to avoid them.

“Bucky,” Steve tries the name out. “I like it.”

Sam swallows the ‘ _Smooth, Rogers_ ’ he’s about to say, and settles for a smile instead. Teasing Steve now would probably only result in him getting too shy about his silly flirting, and besides, judging by James’ expression, the silly flirting is very much appreciated. Who would’ve known?

(Sam Wilson. Sam Wilson would’ve known. _Knew_. Sam thinks this is a fact that should be remembered.)

“So,” James says to Steve when a waitress brings him a coffee he apparently had the time to order before Steve noticed him looking like a lost puppy. “I hear you’ve offered my brother-in-all-but-blood here a spot on your team.”

Sam snorts. No beating around the bush - straight to business, all cards on the table. That’s how James has always done this.

“Yeah, I have,” Steve smiles, rising his eyebrows. “Why? You want in too?”

“God, no,” James snorts rather ungracefully, but Steve doesn’t look any less smitten. Actually, if Sam is being completely honest, the stupid face James makes only seems to make Steve’s eyes sparkle more. “I’m a free man and happily so. No more danger for me, or, well, not any danger that doesn’t involve glitter.”

“Glitter?” Steve looks confused.

“He’s a kindergarten teacher,” Sam explains, mostly just to remind that he’s still here too.

“Or getting my degree in being one, at least,” James corrects. “But yeah. That’s what I do. Only gun I’m willing to use is a glue gun.”

“That sounds… nice,” Steve says and it’s clear he means it. Sam wonders - and most certainly not for the first time - what Steve would do if he wasn’t Captain America. If he’d become an artist or a teacher or maybe a veterinarian.

“It is,” James smiles and _damn_ , it still makes Sam so, so happy to see that particular smile on James’ face. It’s the kind of smile people smile when they talk about something they really love doing. 

(It’s the smile Sam smiled when he still had wings.)

“Sam will take up on that offer, you know,” James says, proving that even though they aren’t brothers, they know each other like they were. “He likes working at the VA, but he needs more. A mission. A purpose. So he’ll take it. He likes helping, and if Captain America needs his help, well, he’s gonna give it.”

“He’s still here,” Sam mutters, not really offended. Just baffled. It still shocks him sometimes, how well James can read him. “But yeah. I’ve thought about it. And if Stark’s really going to build me new wings… Then yeah, I’m gonna do it.”

“I don’t want you to think you’re obligated-” Steve starts, but stops when he sees Sam’s face. “Okay, okay. You’re sure. You can take the offer. I’m pretty sure Stark has made those wings for you already.”

“Really?” Sam eyes Steve skeptically. “He hasn’t even met me.”

“I met him once and he built me a floor his tower,” Steve shrugs. “That’s Tony Stark for you.”

“Damn,” Sam breathes, because really, he doesn’t have anything else to say to that. Rich people are crazy and apparently rich geniuses are freaking _mad_.

“Tony Stark,” James muses thoughtfully. “I think I had a crush on him in high school.”

Sam closes his eyes and prays for this idiot. _Who_ brings that up on a not-quite-a-date?

“Really?” Steve asks, sounding… delighted? Sam’s not entirely sure - because that can’t be right, can it? - but it really does sound like delight. “That’s hilarious! Not that I’m the one to judge, I actually had the tiniest crush on Howard, back before the war and actually _meeting_ the guy. I think the shine’s gonna wear off of Tony too, once you meet him.”

Oh. Well. Apparently that _is_ the kind of thing you can bring up on a not-quite-a-date. At least if you’re one of these two.

“Who says I’m meeting Tony Stark any day soon?”

“Well, meeting the team is inevitable. They’re my family and-,” Steve stops when he realizes what’s he’s saying, and the tips of his ears turn red. “Not that you’re meeting my family-- I mean, if you _want_ to- obviously not _now_ , but _later_. If things work out and- if you want there to be _things_ to work out, you know-- You know, I’m just going to shut up now, and we can all pretend that never happened.”

“There’s no way we’re gonna pretend that,” Sam says at the same time James says, “Relax, Steve. I’m just teasing you. I’d love to meet your family one day.”

James says _family_ and not _team_ , and Steve’s relieved smile is so bright Sam considers wearing sunglasses the next time he’s spending time with these two. Because it’s clear there will be a next time. Most likely _tons_ of next times.

“Yeah,” Steve breathes out, with the tiniest flush on his cheeks. “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” James agrees, and Sam can’t help but snort. What a pair of Casanovas.

“So,” Sam breaks the silence after the whole ‘smiling and gazing at each other’s eyes’ thing becomes a bit too much for him to take. “I think I can safely assume you two are going to go on an official date after this.”

Steve turns to grin at Sam. “Yeah, I think so.”

“I _know_ so,” says James and reaches across the table to take Steve’s hand. “What do you say we ditch this weirdo that’s crashing our date, and maybe catch an early dinner somewhere nice?”

“I’d say that _anywhere_ would be nice with you,” Steve answers, clearly only half joking, and Sam doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry at how good this not-quite-a-date turned out to be after all the worrying James and Steve both did.

 

(Sam doesn’t laugh _or_ cry. He smiles and orders a new coffee for himself when Steve and James head out to ‘the nice Italian place just around the corner’. They happily discuss about art and politic as they go, and even though Sam has no idea how that kind of topic is a start for a first date, he has a good feeling about this.

A really good feeling.)

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this thing wholly on the ppl on [The Stucky Library](http://thestuckylibrary.tumblr.com/). I shouldn't be even writing, much less writing a new Cap!Steve/Modern!Bucky story that will most possibly get a sequel or two. Or three. Oh God, I'm gonna get stuck in this AU, aren't I ???
> 
> Damn ShrunkyClunks.


End file.
